


Take It Like a Man

by Viridian5



Category: Weiß Kreuz
Genre: Enemy Lovers, Episode Related, M/M, Mind Games, Secret Relationship, Secrets, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-12
Updated: 2016-01-12
Packaged: 2018-05-13 10:10:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5703805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Viridian5/pseuds/Viridian5
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Schuldig screws with Yoji’s body and head.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take It Like a Man

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for much of _Kapitel_. 
> 
> This fic has gone through so many titles over the course of my writing it: “Purr,” “Smoke,” “Secret to the End,” “Take It Like a Man.” Of course, this fic also started out as a short PWP in May 2014.
> 
> Accompanying music for this fic could be “Take It Like a Man” by KMFDM and “Secret to the End” by Depeche Mode. Pre-reading by Rosaleendhu and Esinde Nayrall.

_“Let’s play a game of truth or dare,_  
_Throw caution to the wind like we don’t give a damn._  
_I said, ‘Me first, it’s fun to learn things new.’_  
_I’m playing house in your backyard and_  
_You don’t stand a chance._  
  
_Talk, shout, cat-fight, show me what you got,_  
_’Coz I got the goods._  
_Get the picture._  
_Step aside,_  
_Take it like a man...”_  
       -- “Take It Like a Man” by KMFDM  
\---------------------------------------------------

Someone sitting at the bar caught Yoji’s eye, although he only saw her from the back. She had long bright hair, though he couldn’t figure out the actual color in the bar’s dimness, and a narrow waist shown off by her tight jacket. He got the impression that she was tall.... Then she turned her face toward him a little and he saw his error. That somewhat sharp face might be pretty, but it belonged to a man. The end of the man’s cigarette flared brighter as he took a breath in then blew out twisting curls of smoke. His eyelids fluttered a bit as his eyes opened a little wider and focused on Yoji then slid down to half mast to give Yoji a dark, hot look that made filthy promises and his cock rise in reaction to them.

Yoji didn’t sleep with men anywhere near as often as he did women and considered himself mostly straight. After all, his taste in women was far broader than in men. He found men more difficult and chancier to approach too, while the ones who came on to him usually weren’t his type and wanted things from him he didn’t want to give. 

If this one made him an offer, he’d say yes in a hot second. He might even be willing to do a few things he usually refused. 

The man smiled at him, patted the stool next to himself, and purred, “Have a seat, have a drink, be welcome,” in only slightly accented Japanese.

“Thanks,” Yoji murmured as he sat, leaning toward the man enough that their thighs occasionally touched. When the bartender came over a second later, unusually attentive, Yoji said, “I’ll have what he’s having.” His new friend raised his glass of Asahi Black in salute to his choice. 

When Yoji’s beer arrived, the man next to him said, “You can call me ‘Schu.’ My full name is a bit difficult to pronounce.” This close, Yoji could see that his eyes were blue.

“I’m Yoji.” He took a sip of his beer. Although he didn’t usually do black lagers, tonight it really hit the spot. “I haven’t seen you here before.”

“I just arrived in your country a few weeks ago to start a job.”

“Are you enjoying Japan?”

Schu gave him an appraising, flirtatious, _interested_ look and answered, “The scenery is very pretty.”

“We try.” Yoji took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. “Got a light?”

Schu leaned in close to light it off the end of his cigarette, almost like a kiss, making Yoji wonder how long they’d play around here in the bar before going elsewhere to get down to what they both apparently wanted. He hoped Schu found his smoking as suggestive as he found Schu’s and hoped Schu shared his oral fixation. Those lips looked sensual but somehow almost cruel, and he looked forward to the torment they could give his cock. 

“Have you been enjoying the scenery often?” Yoji asked. 

“Work gets in the way too frequently, but I’m looking forward to enjoying some tonight.”

“Good. I can give you the tour.” The usual rhythm of conversation would suggest that Yoji ask Schu what kind of work he did but he didn’t actually care and besides he’d be expected to say what _he_ did for a living in answer. While he wouldn’t admit to being an assassin, he didn’t like announcing that he was a florist either and didn’t want to bother coming up with a lie.

Schu set his hand on Yoji’s thigh and did light circles on it with his fingers, making Yoji’s cock throb with want. Although no one could see it, it still gave Yoji a bit of a charge that he did this in public. Then Schu’s hand traveled up Yoji’s thigh and over to stroke up and down his fly.... While he didn’t usually like aggressive guys, so far Schu was being aggressive in all the right ways. 

“I’d appreciate a tour, though I’m generally good at finding my own way around.” Schu grinned. “Maybe you’ll take me out after we finish our drinks? Show me the best spots?”

“I’m all for that. Drink up.”

Although Yoji found it difficult to maintain his dignity, avoid gulping his drink down to get this party moving, and keep still under that stroking hand, he just barely managed. He didn’t even whimper or moan. 

Schu’s smirk deepened throughout this performance. “I _will_ break you.”

“Since both our drinks are finished, you can try soon. Let’s move on.”

“Will you even be able to walk with that substantial hard-on?” Schu whispered in his ear. 

Yoji just managed to stop himself from shivering at the hot breath and voice. “You’ll see.”

“Show me.”

Despite the discomfort, Yoji managed, since he had his pride, though the night chill barely touched the heat he felt. Striving for nonchalance, he asked, “Have you been to a love hotel yet?”

“Yeah, but I’m not in the mood for anything gimmicky tonight. We won’t need it.”

“ _You’re_ confident.” Almost unnervingly so. 

Schu grinned. “I haven’t had any complaints about my performance.”

Honoring Schu’s request, Yoji got them a plain room. The minute he closed the door behind them Schu had him backed up against the wall, grinding against him and kissing the life out of him, overwhelming him with sensation and lust. 

“But I don’t want to come like this,” Schu purred. “I want to fuck you. That ass of yours....”

“I... I don’t do that.” Yoji wasn’t that kind of guy, no matter how easy his aching cock tried to make him.

“Bad experience? You’ve just never had anyone who really knew what he was doing, while I can make you feel _amazing_. It doesn’t say anything bad about you if you let me show you. You just want to feel good, like any sane person, and I can do it for you. If you don’t like anything, just tell me and I’ll stop.”

“I....”

“I can give a little to get a little. I was watching you watching me smoke earlier. I’m sure you want to see what my lips and mouth can do for your cock.” Schu quickly undid Yoji’s fly and pulled down his pants and underwear, struggling a bit at first from how tight they were, and grinned as Yoji’s hard, dripping cock eagerly sprang free. Then he smoothly and gracefully descended to his knees, so hot, wrapped his hand around the base of Yoji’s cock as a kind of cockring, and darted his tongue out to lick the head. If not for that restraining hand, Yoji would have come right then _and_ stabbed Schu in the face with his dick. “I see you’re interested. I’m game, though if you pull my hair I’ll kill you.”

Fuck yes, Yoji wanted it, but did he want it so much that he’d let Schu take his ass in response? Yoji wasn’t a bottom, but Schu had already shown that he knew what Yoji’s body liked.... “All right. But if I tell you to stop at any time, you do it.”

“Of course, but you won’t want me to.” 

Schu began with brief, teasing licks and moved on to long, swirling licks that wrapped all the way around Yoji’s cock and balls and made him wonder if he could die this way. Sometimes his restraining hand stroked Yoji too. Then he moved forward to take it all the way into his mouth, letting the head touch the back of his throat, and started to suck. Remembering Schu’s admonition, Yoji had to let his hands clench only on air from the pleasure and torment as Schu sucked his brains out, doing things with his tongue and lips that drove Yoji insane. Watching him on his knees, head bobbing, cheeks hollowed out, sometimes fucking his face on Yoji’s cock, sent lightning down Yoji’s spine. So good, so lewd.... When Schu hummed and abruptly released his cockring hand to set both his hands on Yoji’s hips to restrain him, Yoji came so hard he whited out. When he could think again, he found himself leaning hard against the wall, so relaxed and wobbly that only Schu’s hands held him up. 

Schu licked his lips--it seemed that he’d swallowed, which made something inside Yoji quiver with heat--and said, “I _want_ you. I can’t wait anymore. I swear you’ll love it.”

“...yeah. Yeah.” He stepped out of his pants and underwear, leaving them in a heap on the floor. Feeling weird with his top half dressed, he shucked off his jacket and top too. 

His gaze hot and sharp with lust, Schu grabbed him, turned him around, and backed him toward the bed, kissing and groping him all the while, making it hard to think or worry, especially as his dick started twitching to life again, apparently insatiable. He tasted himself on Schu’s lips and tongue, which made him moan. He let himself fall backward onto the bed, and Schu bent down to keep kissing and touching him, his hands restlessly stroking him, making his skin buzz. 

Somehow within the chaos of pleasure and movement, Yoji pulled his mouth away to pant, “You’re still totally dressed, and it’s weird. Strip, dammit.”

Schu undressed in what seemed like seconds before coming in closer again to place himself in between Yoji’s parted legs and rub there, maddening, returning Yoji to full arousal. Yoji wouldn’t beg, he refused to.... When he felt slick fingers where he usually refused to let them go, Yoji gasped but Schu murmured, “Relax, relax,” and kissed him deeply. At first the fingers just circled and caressed his hole, feeling too good, then one suddenly slid inside and reached something that sent sparks of amazing pleasure shooting all through Yoji’s body. His prostate? Schu kept working that spot endlessly, grinning against his lips as he writhed and whimpered and demanded more, demanded _bigger_.... Two fingers and then three fingers gave him some more but didn’t feel like enough; he pushed himself down on them, fucking himself, but it didn’t entirely satisfy or give him relief. He wanted, needed, to be _filled_. 

“What do you want, Yoji?” Schu asked, his eyes and mouth wicked and knowing. “What do you want? You have to tell me. I need to make sure.”

Yoji panted and twisted and tried to grab Schu, who seemed somehow too slippery to be caught and forced. 

“What do you _want_?” Schu asked again. Yoji’s earlier hesitance must have made him cautious.

“...your cock. I want you to fuck me.” _Needed_ Schu to fuck him. 

“I’ll give you what you want, what you _need_.” Schu put on a condom, applied lubricant to himself, grabbed Yoji by his hipbones, and smoothly pushed in until he was balls deep, making sure to hit Yoji’s sweet spot during most of the slide in. 

Fuck, Schu was big and long and felt _huge_ , but right now Yoji wanted it and had never wanted anything more in his life. He’d never felt this way before, so filled, so alive, so _open_ , with someone else deep and throbbing inside him, setting his nerves and skin on fire, touching every part of him and filling it with pleasure. His mind had been blown. Then Schu started to move, at first long and slow and drawn out but gaining speed, rocking the bed and Yoji’s world. He cried out from how good and how _much_ it felt and thought he might be leaving claw marks on Schu’s pale skin. His rock-hard, erect, dripping cock begged to be touched but he irrationally worried that if his hands let go of Schu, Schu would escape and his fucking would stop, something that could not be allowed to happen. Besides, as desperately as Yoji wanted to come, he also didn’t want this to end. 

“You’re so good, so tight and sweet for me, perfect. I wish you could see my cock fucking in and out of your hole and the way your ass grips me. It’s beautiful,” Schu murmured into the skin of Yoji’s neck, making it buzz. “But I’m close, and I won’t leave _you_ hanging....”

Yoji came almost immediately after feeling Schu’s soft stroking touch on his cock and balls in what seemed like a lightning storm of pleasure and release, with Schu reaching orgasm three hard and very thorough thrusts later. For several minutes afterward Yoji couldn’t gather his thoughts or do anything other than lie limply and breathe within Schu’s embrace. 

Damn, that had been amazing. 

As Yoji started to think again, he realized that it had been _too_ amazing, the sensations too intense and brain-melting. To his horror, he realized that he couldn’t remember the last time sex had been that good. Maybe never. He wasn’t the bottom boy type and didn’t want to become one; he didn’t want to have to change his lifestyle or who he slept with. This must have been a fluke. 

He’d _begged_ for Schu’s cock! No way he wanted to be that kind of guy, somebody’s bitch.

“ _So_ ignorant, but still entertaining and cute,” Schu murmured. “Plus, this way you’re so tight for me.”

“What?”

“Don’t worry about it, baby. Something about you makes me want to have you all night long....” He nuzzled Yoji’s neck and moved his hips, making his cock brush that sweet spot inside Yoji again, forcing Yoji to bite back a moan. Schu couldn’t be ready for another round that quickly! 

And if Schu started it like this, Yoji didn’t know if he’d be able to say no, which scared the hell out of him.... 

  


* * *

Yoji came again, moaning and melting in pleasure, his legs thrown over Schu’s shoulders, that thick cock driving up into him so hard and so good that it took him a few minutes to remember his name afterward, unable to move much from how all that sex had wrung him out, just shudder a little. Schu had a wicked grin on his face as his orgasm hit, and he rocked into Yoji a few more times before finally pulling out, giving Yoji’s brain a chance to work. 

“Fuck, I’m _done_ for the night,” Yoji gasped, tired and feeling so sensitive that the touch of Schu’s naked body and the sheets against his skin almost hurt. “Yeah. I... yeah. Besides, I have to get to work in the morning.” He had to get out of that room and away from this guy before he talked him into anything else or made him his bitch again. 

“And you need to be able to walk for it?”

“...yeah.” 

“Should I call you a cab?”

Yoji tried to imagine putting his ass on a seat and the pleasure/pain that would result, the cab driver possibly reacting and knowing.... Shuddering, he said, “No. I’ll walk.” Somehow.

Yoji rolled out of bed, picked up his clothes, and limped on somewhat shaky legs to the bathroom. The tub didn’t look too skanky, and he really needed to get the heavy scent of sex off him.... He showered, even though his skin cringed wherever the water hit it and later when he toweled himself dry and put his clothes back on. His body _throbbed_ , feeling very alive and nearly raw. 

When he opened the bathroom door, he saw Schu waiting near it naked and grinning. Schu grabbed his arm and wrote a phone number on his wrist, with every stroke of the black pen on his skin shooting right to Yoji’s cock and ass, and said, “Call me.” 

“Sure.” Not a chance in hell. No matter how amazing everything had felt, Yoji didn’t think his mind, pride, or body could survive another go. “I’ll catch you later.” He told himself that he just left the room, instead of fled it. 

  


* * *

As soon as he made it home, Yoji hit his bed and passed out, not even bothering to undress. That little shit Aya came by to wake him up for work way too early. When Yoji tried to call out sick, Aya told him there was a difference between “sick” and “debauched” and Yoji didn’t get to take off work for “debauched” because that would set a horrible precedent. Unfortunately, Aya didn’t answer him when he asked how Aya would know what “debauched” even looked like and refused to let him get back to sleep, so Yoji dragged himself out of bed to take a shower to fully wake up and scrub that phone number off his arm, dress in fresh clothes, and put in his time at the flower shop, where he was even more useless than usual from napping, zoning out, or helplessly remembering what he did last night and getting a boner from it. At least his apron covered many sins.

In the days to come Yoji tried to drown the memory of his experience with Schu and regain his self-respect through women, but although he could still get it up none of them made him feel anything like the overwhelming pleasure Schu had, none of them, and he tried so many women and in so many different ways, including two at a time. They all paled and disappointed. Worried about himself, he tried men, even let a few fuck him, and felt both relieved and disappointed when men _also_ paled before that one night’s experience. Then he tried toys, including playing with his ass himself, but that gave him the same substandard result. Sex had never felt so consistently disappointing and so much like work, and knowing that it would be every time made even the dating, drinking, and dancing parts feel somewhat useless.

Should he go to a doctor, physical or mental, about this? Could a doctor even do anything to him that would fix it? He’d have to tell the doctor what had happened and what his problem was, which he had _no_ urge to do, and Kritiker got suspicious if they went to non-Kritiker doctors for things so... double no. No way he’d tell Kritiker what had happened to him. 

Was this some kind of venereal disease? If so, it didn’t appear to have any other symptoms.

Did Schu do this to him? Had Schu done it on purpose? If so, _how_ had he done it? It couldn’t have just been _sex_.

He shouldn’t have scrubbed off that phone number after all.

This couldn’t be his new normal. He didn’t want to live like this. 

He found it bitterly amusing when he realized that his see-sawing emotions resembled the stages of grief.

He kept checking in on that bar to see if Schu returned, even asked a bartender or two about him, and hoped he didn’t look too suspicious or pathetically lovesick but feared that he did. He didn’t see Schu anywhere, and for all he knew the man had left Japan. All his detective skills led him nowhere. What the hell could he do? 

  


* * *

Life went on, uncaring about the depressing state of his lovelife or how much it made him despair. 

Omi having prevented them from killing Takatori Hirofumi at that human hunting expedition, Yoji, Aya, and Ken infiltrated, in their guise as florists making a delivery, the next likely place they knew Hirofumi would appear. Who knew their ridiculous cover would actually work for them at times? 

Ken had to stop hair-trigger Aya from going off and killing Hirofumi in the middle of the pre-party preparations. When Ken was the one holding you back from doing something reckless, you really should rethink things. But Yoji didn’t have long to wonder if the dumbass had even brought a decent edged weapon--because even Aya couldn’t hide his katana in his current outfit unless he _had_ found a way to shove it up his ass--or intended to kill Hirofumi with his bare hands or apron because he unexpectedly saw Schu standing down the hall from them with another man, the both of them having the attitude of professional bodyguards. (No way anyone else in Tokyo had that hair.) _Takatori’s_ bodyguards?

Had it really been coincidence that they’d hooked up that night?

Yoji swallowed down his anger and pretended to Ken and Aya that he’d never seen Schu before. At least now he had some idea of where he could find him. He’d meet up with him again _privately_ and then there’d be a reckoning. 

He never would have expected to get a call from Manx later saying that a man that had to be Schu from the hair color had attacked Omi and kidnapped him from the party for that rat bastard Hirofumi. When Weiß arrived at the residence, they saw that Hirofumi, the kid’s own brother, had tied Omi up to make it easier to beat on him as he interrogated him. Did the Takatoris have something genetically wrong with most of them to make them such twisted fucks? 

Ironically, Omi being tied up would make sure that this time he couldn’t stop Weiß from executing his brother. 

Weiß busted in to mete out justice, but Schu cockblocked Yoji there too as he held them back from killing or pursuing Hirofumi, simultaneously fending the three of them off with such speed and ease that he made them look like useless idiots. While the speech Schu gave as he escaped was lame, the way he leapt out the window backward and immediately disappeared couldn’t help but impress and worry Yoji. Damn. If Schu didn’t want to talk to Yoji or deal with Yoji getting forceful or threatening, he obviously didn’t have to.

At least Aya stopped being such a prick to poor Omi, who had a crush on him. All it took was Omi vehemently repudiating the Takatori family and forcefully getting the crap beaten out of him. It probably further helped Omi with Aya when he swore to kill his brother himself and went out alone to do so to make up for having stopped the team from killing him the first time. Poor kid. Damn, they had fucked up lives.

But Omi’s lone atonement gave Yoji the opportunity to go out to enjoy himself and/or track that bastard Schu down, hoping that Schu would also want to find him, whether to explain that it was business and not personal, fuck him, fuck with his head, and/or kill him. Yoji wore his sexiest club gear but also his watch and gloves. 

But, riled up, he couldn’t enjoy himself at all and had to keep searching, only able to stay in one place long enough to see if that bastard was there and then just a little longer so he wouldn’t look too suspicious to everyone else. He probably didn’t always succeed in not looking suspicious. 

He walked out of his seventh bar for the night when he heard, “You never called, lover. It’s been over two months.” 

Although Yoji struck out in the direction of the voice, Schu stood just outside his reach, as if he knew exactly how far even Yoji’s fingers would go out, and grinned around his cigarette. Unlike Yoji, Schu looked thoroughly relaxed and comfortable. Unlike Yoji, Schu hadn’t recently been emasculated, defeated, or made a fool of. 

“When we met up that night, you knew we’d eventually be on opposite sides, didn’t you?” Yoji asked, angry. 

“Did _you_?”

No, but... “That doesn’t answer the question!”

“How? I can’t see into the future.”

That made sense but... “It’s an awfully big fucking coincidence.”

“Let’s take this somewhere a little more private.”

“I don’t know if I should go anywhere private with you.”

“If I want you to go somewhere with me, you will. Ask Omi.”

Yoji would beat that grinning, superior face in. Somehow. No matter how fast Schu might be, he couldn’t avoid _everything_. 

“What are you so pissed about?” Schu asked. “What did I do to _you_? Tonight I was just doing my job. You have to understand that. The kid’s own family is a much bigger threat to him than I am.”

“What you did and let happen to Bombay was _not_ cool. But that’s not why I tracked you down tonight.” _That_ sounded shitty, but at this point he might as well go on. “What did you _do_ to me that night? You ruined my life! Do you have some kind of disease you gave me or something?”

“Bitch, please. I know my status is clean and I used protection besides. You were too busy begging for my cock to even ask for it, but I used it anyway. Whatever your problem is, it isn’t my fault. What _is_ your problem anyway?”

Put on the spot, Yoji belatedly realized that he couldn’t figure out a way to say it that wouldn’t make Schu laugh and get a swelled head over it from feeling complimented about his sexual prowess. “It’s... personal.” 

“You are a few cards short of a deck. Still pretty though. You don’t have sores, warts, or critters, do you? Does it burn when you pee? Is it that you can’t get it up anymore?”

“No! None of that!”

“Calm down; you’re the guy who says he has a sexual problem. So what is it?”

All right, Yoji wanted to take this somewhere private after all because no way should he talk about this in public near a place he frequented. “Let’s go.”

“Now you’re talking. But I’m not getting in your vehicle with you. After all, you kill people for a living, and I have to look out for myself.”

Yoji wanted to strangle him so much. “You’re not cute.”

“I’m _very_ cute.”

“We’ll walk somewhere.”

“I know a nice hotel near here.”

 _Hell_ no. “I’m not doing that again!”

Schu leaned in close, his hot breath against Yoji’s ear, making it difficult to think, as he whispered/purred, “It sounds like this problem of yours really scares you. Since I’m the last person you were okay with, isn’t it a good idea to see if it all still works right with me? So you’ll know if you’ve gone completely dysfunctional? If I can fix it for you, wouldn’t that be a good thing? I swear I can ignore our professional differences during our personal time together.” 

Yeah, the sex last time had been so, so good but also left him feeling somewhat, unnervingly, afraid. As much as he missed satisfying sex, did he really want to subject himself to that again, especially now that Schu worked for his enemies? (Might possibly have been working for his enemies the last time they’d fucked too?) Schu might also be making this offer to get a chance to kill him and leave his corpse in a very embarrassing position. 

“My motives are pure, Yoji. I’ll just blow your mind. While we’re off the clock, we’ll get each other off and have a good time. I’ve been longing for you since the last time I saw you and thinking of what filthy things I’d do with you.”

At the moment, even Yoji’s anger fed into his lust. If Schu thought he could fix things, let him try. After the shit Schu had put Omi and the rest of Yoji’s team through, Schu _should_ be making it up to him. “...all right. But this time I’m fucking _you_.”

“I’m completely fine with that.” He said it quickly and easily, as if it meant nothing.

It made Yoji suspicious.

“For fuck’s sake!” Schu said. “Not that I can see you wanting to live an entire life of sexual dissatisfaction, but if I wanted to kill you I could’ve done it earlier. Stop tying your brain in knots, and make a decision already. I can find much easier and less annoying lays elsewhere. If you object to me that much, I’ll never show up for you in a less than professional capacity ever again, leaving you to go back to hopelessly puzzling things out on your own, which has obviously worked so well for you.”

Unfortunately, Schu was right. “All right. But I pick the hotel.” In case Schu had a trap set for Yoji at the hotel of _his_ choice. “I know one nearby.” Though he wouldn’t use one of his favorites in case this encounter went south and forever tainted his memories of the place.

“Fine. Whatever. You’re going to have to work to get me back in the mood though, because I’m _aggravated_ now.”

“Not a problem.” Yoji had _skills_. “We’re walking.”

Schu leaned into him a bit as they walked. Yeah, like so many other people he couldn’t help himself around the Yoji. 

This might be useless, but Yoji tried it anyway. “The Takatoris are terrible, sick people who do terrible, sick things, even to their own family. Do you really want to work for people like that?”

“They’re not angels to me either,” Schu replied, “but it’s not like I have a choice about who I work for.”

What? “Someone’s forcing you to work for them?”

“The organization I’m with... I didn’t join them willingly and there’s no way out aside from a horrible death, possibly one in which they made sure to make a very graphic example out of me for anyone else thinking of skipping out. They make the Takatoris look like wimpy, soft-hearted amateurs. Their training program... the things they make you do....” Schu shuddered. “Don’t get that look on your face; they’d chew you up, spit you out, and thoroughly enjoy it.”

“The fact that you’re warning me away from tangling with them so I won’t get hurt just shows that they didn’t totally succeed with you.” 

“I thought you were going to get me back into the mood? This kind of talk sure as hell doesn’t.”

“I couldn’t do that right out on a public street. It wouldn’t be fair to the innocent bystanders.”

“You do know that when you talk that big you have to deliver, right?”

“You’ll see.”

Even by the standards of love hotel employees, the guy who gave them their room key was blasé and bored. No curiosity or sneer about two guys taking a room. Yoji couldn’t figure out why that bothered him.

In the elevator, Schu asked, “Why didn’t you go with the outer space-themed room? Anal probes for everybody!”

“That’s exactly why.”

“Your ass _wants_ to be violated.”

“Those are _not_ the terms you agreed to.”

“Fine, fine.”

The room they ended up with not only had mirrors on the ceiling but also a few on the walls facing each other, creating crazy infinite hallways of reflections, seemingly hundreds of Yojis and Schus. It might get _really_ visually confusing as he and Schu got it on.

“Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad,” Schu murmured. “Are you sure your sanity can handle these kinds of visuals? We might’ve been better off with the space room... which would also be kind of nostalgic for me.”

Yoji refused to ask. “It’ll be great. Who wouldn’t want to watch endless numbers of yous and mes naked and going for it? We’re gorgeous.”

“True, but if you start raving or foaming at the mouth I’ll deck you.” Smiling serenely, Schu slipped off his headband and sunglasses then began unbuttoning his clothes, starting with the green blazer, his long fingers moving sedately and gracefully. Instead of removing the blazer, he went right to unbuttoning his white shirt, gradually baring more skin, and finally pulled the tails of it out of his pants. His smile deepening, nearly smug, eyes lustful and focused on Yoji, he undid the top button of his fly then unzipped the rest. 

One of the problems Yoji had with their last time had been how he’d felt a bit like Schu’s bitch, a passive and overwhelmed person things had been done to. This time he’d be more aggressive and in control. He pulled Schu in close and kissed him deeply. The erection Schu pressed against Yoji’s body showed him that despite all the complaining Schu hadn’t actually been pulled out of the mood for this. “It doesn’t look like I have to do much to get you back on board for sex after all.”

“Maybe I’m a tsundere.”

While that made some sense, Yoji had far more important matters to think of and deal with, like removing his mostly skintight clothing. Schu helped. When Yoji faltered as it came down to removing his gloves and watch, Schu said, “Those have to come off too. I don’t have a kink about getting strangled or having my neck sliced open, and it’d be too distracting to me knowing that’s an option every time I see or feel your hands. Besides, do you really want to be wearing your work gloves as you finger me?”

Ugh, hell no. “Now _I’m_ losing the mood.”

“I could still leave and find an easier lay.”

Thus reminding Yoji of how much less power he had than Schu in this situation, so as soon as took the gloves and watch off he pushed Schu down onto the bed and yanked off his pants and underwear. Lying on his back atop the sheets, jacket and shirt sliding down his arms and puddled beneath him, long bare legs and erect cock delectable, Schu looked hot, but Schu’s look up at him held a tinge of worry, which felt damned good, gratifying. But Yoji also couldn’t figure out why he hadn’t noticed Schu’s work-related scars the last time they’d been naked together. While they might be pale and few, the bullet scars couldn’t be mistaken for anything else, especially the one that had an obvious entry and exit through his left thigh. 

“You’re not chickening out, are you? You _have_ done this before, right?” Schu asked. 

Damn, he’d been woolgathering too long. “I’m just thinking. Maybe you’re not accustomed to that.” He gently pushed Schu’s thighs apart, slicked up a finger, and pressed it in. 

Wincing, Schu said, “My usual lovers can think _and_ warm me up more before going straight for the hole.”

“Usually I do, but you were complaining of boredom.”

“If you keep being such a little shit, you’ll be having sex by yourself. If this is the way you treat your lovers it’s no wonder you’re having problems.”

What the hell had he been thinking? How could he find out if his sex trouble extended to Schu if he antagonized the man so much that neither of them _could_ feel any pleasure from it? Besides, Yoji always treated his lovers well, prided himself on it. “Sorry,” Yoji said, and meant it. 

“Hmph.” Schu pulled his arms out of his sleeves and tossed his coat and shirt off the bed. “Then show it.”

Yoji came up to kiss and stroke Schu and grind against him, all of which Schu reciprocated, but he couldn’t get himself into the mood. Finally, Schu sighed and said, “I thought you had _game_ , Yoji. Then again, you did have it the last time we tangled.”

“I still have it!”

“Oh, baby.” Schu had such a tender look on his face. “You can still top me, but let me take the lead for now, serve you. I’ll make it good for you.” Schu lightly brushed his lips against Yoji’s, leaving a warm, tingling sensation, some of the good stuff.

“Okay.” 

They kissed for a while, with Schu varying the pressure and letting his hands wander along Yoji’s back and sometimes atop his ass, waking Yoji’s body up with pleasure, expectation, and lust, with Yoji’s cock getting so hard he felt like he could drill metal with it. When Schu deepened the kiss, Yoji happily tangled tongues with him as they rutted against and stroked each other, and had to fight down tears. Fuck, he’d missed these sensations so much. He felt _alive_ this way.

As he felt Schu yield control over to him, Yoji reached for the lubricant then stroked a slick finger up into Schu, who moaned against his lips, making them buzz with sensation. He fingerfucked him for a while, then put a condom and lube on and thrust smoothly into Schu’s hot, welcoming body. It felt _so_ good, so right, like a return to himself. He quickly established a strong, steady rhythm and smiled whenever Schu moaned or pressed down to take Yoji’s cock in deeper. Yeah, Schu wanted more of that, more of him. Sometimes he watched the pornographic flexing and writhing of their joined naked bodies with himself on top in the mirrors on the ceiling and walls, further turning himself on. He had a _nice_ ass. 

After such a long time without a single satisfying encounter, he wished they could keep fucking forever, but that very thing lessened his staying power. The way Schu gripped and clenched on his cock affected it too. When his orgasm arrived, it whipped all the way through his body in a rush of electric pleasure, turning his last thrusts faster and wild, making Schu come with him. He came to with Schu thoroughly wrapped around him, inner muscles, arms, legs. From the sting of places on his back, Schu had clawed him a bit, which gave him a glow of pride and achievement. Hearts pounding, breathing hard, they remained locked together like that for a while. 

Finally Schu said, “I don’t see your problem; you seem more than fine to me. Fuck. Give me a cigarette.”

Both of them enjoying a languid, post-orgasm cigarette, they smoked lying side by side on the rumpled bed with even their hair mingling together a bit. With all of his tension and worries gone, Yoji felt _cleansed_. But as the flood of afterglow receded, Yoji started thinking again and wondering if this meant that he’d been cured or just that he had to have sex with only Schu. 

Schu stubbed his cigarette out in a nearby ash tray before straddling Yoji’s waist and looking down on him, with Yoji’s reawakening cock nudging at his ass. Grinning, he backed up a little and rubbed up and down it as it nestled between his cheeks, which felt too good and returned Yoji to full hardness. It made Yoji ache with anticipation and want to fuck; it even made him want to be fucked, as he couldn’t help remembering how scary good Schu had made it feel. 

Lazily stroking his own erection, wanton, Schu said, “There’s no reason to make this complicated. We’re two guys with needs, and we can fulfill them for each other. I really need something in my life that feels good and isn’t connected to all the other shit.”

“I get that. I really get that.” Yoji slid his hands up Schu’s thighs.

“I thought you might. I wanna go again, and it feels like you do too.”

Schu was a good lay when he let Yoji hold the reins, and Yoji didn’t run into too many people who _understood_. Hell, didn’t have any lovers he could even tell much about himself. Schu being employed by his enemy even added a certain spice of the forbidden to their time together, making it hotter. 

Thinking was overrated. Why worry, perhaps needlessly, about the future when he had a very willing and understanding partner in pleasure with him? After weeks of panic and deprivation, Yoji deserved this. “I do.” 

  


* * *

But Yoji couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty when he saw Omi in the morning. It didn’t help that all day he kept getting wicked memory flashbacks of all the dirty, sexy things he’d done with Schu, fucking him, giving and receiving handjobs and blowjobs, and most explosive of all, getting enthusiastically rimmed and fucked by Schu. Holy shit, that man’s tongue should’ve been registered as a lethal weapon. In no time at all he’d had Yoji desperately humping the mattress, whining, whimpering, and begging for his cock. By the time he relented, he hadn’t even needed lubricant, just slid in, at which point he immediately found the perfect angle to relentlessly work Yoji’s sweet spot, seeming to know everything Yoji’s body craved. Of course, Yoji had helped by loudly demanding he fuck him harder. Yoji’s ass still ached and tingled, especially when he sat down or moved or flexed in certain ways, making him horny all day and giving him so many boners that he kept hiding behind the counter at work. 

From that, his perpetual distraction, and the way he kept randomly, stupidly smiling at the world, Ken and Aya quickly figured out that while Omi had been killing his brother, Yoji had gotten spectacularly laid. They hadn’t bothered to hide their disgust, and Yoji couldn’t blame them. Once Omi came home from school and noticed too, he looked more hurt than anything else, which _burned_. 

  


* * *

Brooding, distracted, restless, and _frustrated_ , Yoji drove aimlessly through the night in his Super Seven. Persia wouldn’t let Weiß go after the group murdering people in their name, _framing_ them, or send them on other missions. Omi had gone quieter, probably from mourning Ouka. 

If Yoji found Schu, he’d kill him with his bare hands. Schu... or maybe “Schuldig,” Yoji had heard them tossing the name around and had first thought it might be the name of Schu’s team until he mentally smacked himself for his own further stupidity and decided it was probably Schu’s _name_ , then looked it up online and found out it meant “ _guilty”_... had played cruel mind games with Omi and Ouka and Weiß, fought Weiß alongside his crazy one-eyed partner, and then let said crazy one-eyed partner _murder_ Ouka as Omi, thrilled to have found friendly family at last, had been _hugging_ her. (Also possibly thrilled that Ouka couldn’t pursue him as a love interest anymore, since Omi didn’t seem to be into girls.) She’d died in Omi’s arms! 

Yoji couldn’t excuse that. Screw keeping the professional and personal separate, Schu had deeply hurt Yoji’s _family_. Yeah, sex had failed him with the woman he’d tried the other night, but he couldn’t hold his sexual satisfaction higher than Omi’s losses at Schu’s hands. 

He realized that he’d subconsciously driven to Minato Park, the scene of the crime. Wait, did he see a flash of orange hair near that park bench? Nobody else was in the park....

Yoji quietly parked his Super Seven, got out, put his working gloves on, and approached stealthily, thankful that he always had his wire with him inside his watch. Surely Persia wouldn’t consider this an unsanctioned kill, not when Schu kept popping up to threaten and fight Weiß and fuck up their missions. 

But Schu turned toward him, gun trained on him, before he could get close, though Schu didn’t fire. Schu had a lot of new, swollen bruises on his face, making him a lot less pretty now, and he looked tired and seemed to be in a lot of pain. ...good! He _should_ suffer for what he’d done!

Yoji pulled out a length of his wire. “Maybe it’s better this way. Lets you see it coming.”

“I didn’t kill that girl!” It looked like it hurt Schu’s head to talk. It probably hurt his head to do anything at this point.

“Where did your friend get that gun from, then?”

“Not from me! She’s our client’s beloved daughter. Takatori didn’t want her dead and neither did I. If I did want her dead, I’d do it myself, since _I’m_ the gunman of the two of us. Maybe you noticed that my partner uses blades, which would explain why he’s a shit shot.”

It _didn’t_ make sense when he put it that way. Still: “Sure, you’re pure as the driven snow. Then why did you play mind games with all of us? Why torment Omi, torment Ouka, lead us into a trap, and put your client’s beloved daughter in the middle of a battleground?”

“To draw all of you out for my job. I told Ouka who Omi really is for good reason. Think about it. You’re smart enough to understand why Mr. Takatori doesn’t want his daughter romantically involved with his _son_.” 

...right. Shit. “You’re still responsible!”

“These bruises are from Reiji Takatori beating the shit out of me with a _golf club_ over Ouka’s death, even though _I_ didn’t kill her! I was just there when it happened. I had to just accept it from him, a man I could’ve taken down in seconds, while my team leader just watched and smirked. I didn’t know if he’d intervene in time to save me if Takatori killed me on purpose or just got too carried away and gave me a killing blow. My skull could’ve been smashed in. It could’ve started a hemorrhage that would damage my brain. I could’ve lost an eye. Plus, it was humiliating. He beat on Farf too, but since Farf doesn’t notice pain it left him more bemused than anything else, so Takatori beat on me harder than on him since I gave a more satisfying reaction.”

Takatori Reiji was _hardcore_. It took a brave man to seriously batter someone he knew was prohibited from fighting back. Yoji felt a little bad for Schu over it but felt a lot worse for Omi and said, “My heart bleeds for you. Ouka’s still dead, and Omi’s inconsolable.” 

“A lot of Omi’s suffering was directly commanded by my client. You should have some idea of what the Takatoris are like by now. If I could stop working for that asshole and tell him to kiss my ass, I would, but I don’t have a choice.”

“Right, because supposedly some organization is ‘making’ you work for him.”

“Do you think I’d let anyone do _this_ to me if I had a choice?”

True. “Your name is ‘Schuldig,’ isn’t it? I know it’s German for ‘guilty.’ What does _that_ say about you?”

“It sounded _badass_ when I was a teenager, then I’d used it too long to change it. I’m a goddamn mercenary; like you, I kill people for money. Though, unlike you, I can also be hired to protect people from assassinations. Look, you’ve seen my speed, and I’m not currently using it. I’m not attacking you now, even though you’re threatening to kill me.”

“Maybe you’re just not as fast and graceful with your head beaten in.”

“I thought you considered yourself one of the good guys, killing for good causes. You’re not behaving like one.” 

Yoji saw Schu sway again before recovering himself. “Did you get yourself looked over?”

“What? You’re being nice again? Yeah, I did. I’m a valuable tool to my client and team leader. I don’t have any brain hemorrhaging, but I might have a mild concussion. My head hurts too much for me to handle lying down and sleeping anyway. I was sitting on a bench resting until you crept up on me to kill me. _Can_ I sit back down safely? Your element of surprise is gone and even injured I’ll put up a hell of a fight, so can you put your wire away? Sorry for being cranky, but I just got my skull beaten in and the asshole didn’t even bother to clean the golf club before he used it on me so I had to wash dirt and bits of grass out of the abrasions too, which also hurt like hell.”

In this condition, Schu couldn’t get the upper hand on him. Also, this seemed like the Schu he knew--off-the-clock Schu--and less like the Schuldig who fought Weiß. Balinese could be different from Yoji sometimes. Yoji couldn’t fully enjoy tormenting a man who was already so obviously seriously injured and didn’t currently present a threat. “Sure, sit.” 

The way Schu carefully levered himself down onto the bench suggested that he felt dizzy, making Yoji say, “If you’re feeling that bad, you should be home now.” Yoji had wanted Schu punished, which getting his head beaten in with a _golf club_ by a man he felt contempt for as his teammates watched and did nothing to protect him certainly qualified as, and Schu was obviously in a lot of pain so.... Besides, if Schu hadn’t been the killer or provided the gun he hadn’t done anything that deserved Yoji’s _lethal_ attention.

“I’m understandably pissed off at my team leader, and since I live with my team....”

“Then get a hotel room.”

“Ah. Yeah.”

“You’re really not thinking straight, are you?”

Unusually for him, Schu looked reluctant to say anything. 

“Tell me,” Yoji said while trying to be as non-threatening and charming as possible, easy for him. “We’re not enemies right now. We can separate the personal and professional, like we said we could.” He could get information for Weiß this way.

“...when my head hurts this badly, I can’t read your language as well, the... non-romaji, which is pretty difficult for me as is.”

That made a lot of sense. “So you’re having a harder time getting around Tokyo. I could drive you back to your place.”

“And let you see where my team lives? Ha ha, no. Besides, I don’t think we should travel too far in public together, especially not in that roofless attention-grabber of a car you have.” 

“Then I’ll walk you to a nearby hotel room.” When he thought about how that might sound, Yoji said, “Not that I expect sex from you right now.”

Schu sighed but answered softly, “Actually, I wouldn’t mind it. It’d be nice if I could feel something other than pain for a while. Just be gentle with me.”

Well, then. 

  


* * *

Sex with even an injured Schu was _magic_ , as amazingly pleasurable and mindblowing as ever, better than with anyone else Yoji had ever had. Schu certainly seemed to be looser and in somewhat less pain afterward, though he very gingerly rested his head on his pillow as they smoked through their afterglow together. 

“You know, your identity’s safe with me,” Schu murmured. 

“Hunh?”

“The authorities are looking for the Weiß that’s been setting bombs to murder people. I know the identities of you and your team members of Weiß.”

Shit! He hadn’t even thought about that! “We’re not setting those bombs! Someone is framing us!” Could his heart pound its way out of his chest? It sure felt like it. 

“I kinda thought that, but the authorities don’t know that. I could’ve told them about the members of your Weiß and let the law dogs sort it out, and the law might not be lenient even if they fail to pin the _bombings_ on you. After all, you guys _do_ kill people and seem to be angling to kill my client, who as far as any of them knows is an upstanding pillar of the community. But I haven’t told them or my team leader, even though he asked. Your identity and your teammates’ identities are safe with me.”

Yoji wanted to ask why he hadn’t but didn’t do it because he didn’t want to change Schu’s mind on it since, sex partner or not, Schu _should_ report them to protect his client and his client’s family. The risk of that added more weight to Yoji’s occasional crackpot urge to get Schu to his bed in his apartment and handcuff him there to stop him from getting in Weiß’s way (and keep him as a sex slave). Eventually Stockholm syndrome would set in and he’d willingly stick around to give Yoji all the magical sex he desired, right? Considering what Schu’s team leader had let Takatori do to him, Schu might even be safer that way. It’d be difficult keeping him a secret from the guys though and even more difficult to work in the flower shop when he knew what he had waiting upstairs for him. 

Not that he’d ever actually do that, but it was a hot daydream. 

Schu gave him such a fond look, and Yoji smiled back, thinking that what had seemed like a disaster had turned out to be to Weiß’s benefit. Schu falling for him had saved Yoji’s team, though Yoji doubted he’d ever be able to get any of them to thank him for being so gifted in seduction. Knowing that, he wouldn’t tell them about Schu unless he had no other choice. 

  


* * *

While out driving and trying to clear his head after everything that had happened recently, Yoji saw Schu walking down the sidewalk, looking a hell of a lot better than he had the last time they’d met up. Great timing, since it would let him resolve some loose ends and get on with his life. “Hey!” he yelled toward him as he pulled up to the curb.

“Hey, you,” Schu answered as he came up to the car. “How’s it going?”

“It’s been eventful, and I want to talk to you.” 

“Should I be intrigued?” 

“Maybe. You’ll have to talk to me to find out.” Yoji knew how to reel them in.

“Sure. There’s a secluded izakaya near here I like.”

“Sounds ideal.” Yoji parked his car and followed him.

Usually Yoji would sit at the bar or counter, where the action was, but their conversation might attract the wrong attention so Yoji found them a small table in a far dark corner. 

“Afraid to be seen with me?” Schu asked.

“Not really. It could be bad if anyone from Kritiker sees me with you and we don’t want to talk this stuff out right in front of bystanders.” Even though Yoji intended to bid Kritiker a fond farewell and it looked like they’d let him, he didn’t see a need to rock the boat too much.

Schu rolled his eyes. “Live a little.” But he sat.

“I was surprised when we didn’t see your team as we tackled Takatori. _Pleased_ , since it made our job easier, but surprised.”

“Can you believe that asshole fired us? At the time when things had been going well for him and he’d thought we weren’t sufficiently servile, he fired us. When things went to hell in a handbasket he tried to rehire us, but we gleefully told him to go fuck himself. I was tempted to kill the bastard myself for what he did to me with that fucking golf club but decided to let your Abyssinian have that paltry pleasure instead, since he wanted it more and post-revenge doldrums would be hitting him shortly.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’d figure out that Takatori being dead at his hand didn’t bring his parents or home back or get his sister out of her coma and that he’d just lost the overwhelming guiding purpose he’d followed for years. Sure, intellectually he already knew some of this, but now it’s _really_ brought home to him that everything’s gone and there’s nothing he can do about it. Killing Takatori by his own hand is the only cold comfort he has, the only accomplishment he can claim as a reward for years of suffering and moral compromise.”

Yoji hadn’t wondered if Aya would be all right, and Aya certainly wouldn’t invite him to, but now he felt a little guilty pang over how the team members had gone their separate ways. Omi had school, Ken had his soccer kids, and Yoji had private eye work--work and people they enjoyed and a purpose in life--so they’d be fine, but Aya just had a comatose sister. He didn’t even really like Aya, but....

He didn’t even know where Aya had gone, since he hadn’t cared. Omi might know, but Yoji didn’t really want to stay that in touch with even Omi to find out. He was _done_.

Actually, Aya had taken revenge for Yoji too, if Persia could be believed. Persia had said that Takatori had been the shadowy figure behind Asuka’s death but revealed that so late that Yoji hadn’t even processed or felt it yet. A guy should enjoy getting his revenge/justice more than this.

All four members of Weiß could lay the major tragedies of their past at Takatori Reiji’s feet and that couldn’t have been coincidence, not with all _four_ of them involved, so Persia must have known when he put them together years ago but hadn’t bothered to tell Yoji and Ken until right before he died, right before Aya went up to kill the bastard. Aya already knew, and Omi had figured his out recently when his memory returned. 

To get his mind off all that, Yoji said, “I thought your evil, big boss organization demanded you work for Takatori no matter what he did to you.”

“They did but, Takatori being Takatori, he’d overstepped his boundaries and annoyed them too much. My team knew he would someday, and knowing that made it a tiny bit easier to put up with him.”

“I’m surprised you’re still in Japan.”

“We have some more work to do here.” 

Maybe Yoji should wonder and worry about that, but, you know what, it wasn’t his problem anymore. 

Schu grinned. “Why, Yoji, eager to get rid of me?”

Yes and no. Yoji figured that a large part of his recent sexual dysfunction came from his killing people and that once he stopped it’d fade away and he could get back to the ladies, but he hadn’t proven that yet and saw no reason to burn his bridges with Schu in case he needed him. While Schu made him uncomfortable in some ways, he couldn’t deny that the sex was _amazing_ , better than anyone he’d had. He’d have to be careful handling this.

“Nah. I was just wondering if you’d be around.”

“I’m around tonight.”

“Hmm.”

“Don’t overwhelm me with your enthusiasm.”

“It’s just that my team has disbanded and we’re putting that life behind us. Making a clean break.”

Schu cocked one eyebrow at him. “And I’d dirty up your break?”

“Possibly? But I do enjoy our time together....”

“You’ll have to make up your mind sometime tonight. Don’t worry about me, Yoji, because there are lots of fish in the sea and I won’t pine away in your absence.”

It wasn’t like Yoji had ever pretended to Schu or himself that they had a star-crossed romance and true love between them, so it probably didn’t say good things about him that he felt offended. It must’ve shown on his face, because Schu dryly said, “The ego has landed.”

“No, it’s not like that.” Besides, he knew Schu actually did have feelings for him--Schu had proven it a few times--so maybe Schu had declared that as a sop to his own pride. “At least we won’t have to fight each other anymore.”

“I don’t have to whip your ass anymore.... Well, I wish you luck, but I have to tell you that it’s very hard to get out of the lifestyle and stay out.”

“Do you know something I don’t know?”

“Where could I even begin with that?”

“Shut up.” When Schu didn’t say another word but kept smirking at him, Yoji asked, “Have you heard anything that makes you say that?”

“No, this is purely my life experience in the business talking. Death tends to be the only retirement plan.”

“It’ll be different for my team. We work for the good guys. Don’t facepalm at me!”

“It’s a good thing for you that you’re cute as well as dumb.”

“You suck.”

“You like the way I suck. But maybe I’m just being a bitter cynic and you’re actually right, so let’s celebrate your freedom. Your first two drinks are on me.” 

  


* * *

As Yoji moaned his way through his fifth orgasm of the night, with his legs thrown over Schu’s shoulders and Schu’s cock deep inside him making everything wonderful, he vaguely thought that maybe he should feel manipulated by Schu getting him tipsy to get laid but couldn’t bring himself to be upset about it. Of course Schu would want goodbye sex, and it’s not like Yoji had to martyr himself to give it. 

Maybe Yoji had been too hasty about cutting _all_ ties. Nobody else could work him over so good like this, and all ladies all the time could get monotonous. He and Schu wouldn’t even be enemies anymore.... But he wouldn’t say anything about that yet; better to wait to see how things worked out for him in his new life first.

As Schu rolled over to the nightstand, lit a cigarette for each of them, and stuck one in Yoji’s welcoming mouth, he said, “I might not pine for you, but I’ll miss you. You’re a _fine_ piece of ass.”

“Back at you.” 

“Tell me when you’re ready for more.”

Already? “Shit, man, you’re not human.”

“Is that a no?”

Thinking about it.... “Give me fifteen minutes, and don’t put anything else up my ass because I want to be able to walk out of here on my own.”

“I agree to those terms.” 

  


* * *

Sitting at a table by the window in the sun, the way _she_ would have, but alone, he.... _Asuka_....

Schu sat down across the table from him and said, “Hi!”

“This is _not_ the time for this.” Yoji felt too depressed to even get a really good rage going. 

“I’ve seen you wandering around like a depressed zombie for about a week. You’re rather repetitious in your misery. The way things are going, you might be dead before the ‘right’ time to talk to you comes.”

He’d lost track of time during his mourning. “That’s not a problem for me.”

Schu pouted at that but said, “I don’t think you should be alone all the time.”

“I want to be alone. I _asked_ them to leave me alone.”

“You’re obviously not pulling yourself out of it on your own. I think you need someone to talk to.” Schu looked down at the table. “We haven’t been face to face in some time, not since you told me you were leaving the business.” 

It had been a relief that Schwarz hadn’t been involved in recent missions much since Yoji occasionally felt some qualms over sleeping with the enemy. He didn’t appreciate Schwarz kicking his ass either. 

While Schu had helped rescue Farfarello from Weiß that one time recently, Schu hadn’t come into direct contact with Weiß. “What’s Farfarello’s problem with religious people anyway?” Yoji asked.

“It’s all connected to that nun your Siberian wanted to protect, and Farfarello has his reasons, very personal ones. You know, you didn’t have to cut me off completely. I wouldn’t even have gloated much when you returned to your job like I predicted you would, though I would ask why you did.” Obviously, Schu still had feelings for him.

Yoji had been spending time exclusively with the ladies. The sex still hadn’t been as good, but he had more self-respect and felt he had more control of things. Then Asuka... Neu had shown up, tried to strangle him, and might’ve succeeded if Botan hadn’t gotten involved. After that, Yoji had spent less time with the ladies and more time with his memory of one special one. “It’s not important.”

“It’s very important.”

“Are you here as Schuldig or Schu?”

“If I were here as Schuldig, I already would’ve wiped the floor with you.”

“You are _not_ helping yourself.”

Smiling, Schu said, “I’m better at helping other people. Talk to me.”

“If I do, will you leave me alone afterward?”

“If you still want me to. Though not forever.”

The restaurant was mostly empty and the wait staff hadn’t been attentive, two reasons why he’d chosen it, so.... “I joined Weiß to begin with because a woman I loved was murdered. Recently I found out she was still alive, which would’ve been a happy thing if she weren’t an amnesiac working for one of our enemies and out to kill me. She’s why I came back.”

“That could get complicated. Which enemy?”

“Schreient.”

“Schreient? Masafumi’s Schreient? That sick fuck....” A strange look quickly crossed Schu’s face before he recovered control of himself.

“What? What do you know?”

“It’s nothing.”

“ _Tell_ me. I need to know.” 

“Yoji....”

“ _Tell_ me!”

“Did you ever wonder why all four members of that team were fanatically loyal to Masafumi, deeply in love with him, and in no way jealous of one another over him? Well, it’s not an accident because he wouldn’t settle for anything less, and she might still have had her memories when he first got his hands on her.”

Yoji’s stomach dropped, and his voice dropped as he asked, “What does he do?”

“Yoji....”

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll just be imagining it.”

“I don’t know. He didn’t... he didn’t reveal trade secrets to the help, but he did gloat with a slimy smile that his methods got excellent results.”

Yoji felt _enraged_. He felt sick. He felt even sicker as he remembered... why he killed her. She’d called him pathetic and said she felt no love for him at all, only for Takatori Masafumi. But if Masafumi had rewritten her, none of it was her fault. She was a _victim_. 

And he’d _murdered_ her for it. There could have been another way, but he hadn’t been able to think--

But he should have. He should have.

“But she’s alive, and that’s already an upgrade from how you thought things were, right?” Schu said. “You could find a way to take her in without hurting her, and maybe Kritiker knows someone who can deprogram her. It would be a long road and she might never be exactly who she was again, but it would still be an improvement.”

All the things Schu spoke of were things a man who truly loved and wanted the best for Asuka would do, what Yoji should have done. Instead, she’d hurt Yoji’s feelings and he’d _killed_ her for it? He wasn’t much better than the monsters he executed.

Shaking, Yoji softly said, “No, she’s dead now.”

Schu deflated. “...I’m so sorry. That’s horrible. Is there at least anyone you can get revenge on for it?”

“...I’ve already started.”

Suddenly Schu stood next to Yoji and put his hand on his shoulder. “C’mon, man. Breathe.” 

“I really don’t feel like it.”

“We have to move this elsewhere. The people who work here were giving you looks when I walked in here and they’re amping them up now.”

“People don’t have the proper appreciation for public breakdowns.” 

“Let’s pay the bill for the food you barely ate and leave.”

After Yoji accomplished that and got outside, Schu said, “I don’t think you’re safe to drive. Should I take you home?”

“I’m sure you want to know where I live.” At least he didn’t say “we.” No need for Schu’s team to have that much more information. 

Besides, he didn’t want to talk to his own team right now, especially while he still felt a small sliver of shame over how he’d fucked them over and been such an asshole about it. They’d only been concerned for his welfare, and while Aya could have been nicer while attempting to question Neu, his beloved comatose sister was helpless in the hands of twisted individuals so what could Yoji really expect of him? In the end Neu had played Yoji like they said she would.

And then he’d killed her.

“Pft. We’re keeping that part of our lives separate from this, remember? But okay. It’s not like I’ll take you to our place either, where I’m not sure you’d appreciate the kind of welcome my team would give you.” Had Schu meant to reveal so much? 

Yoji couldn’t quite care. He wanted to stop thinking, stop feeling. He wanted to be obliterated, but drinking just made him more depressed and every woman reminded him of Asuka. 

When he turned to look at Schu, he saw two lit cigarettes in Schu’s mouth. As Schu stuck one of them between Yoji’s lips, he said, “Looks like you need this.” An indirect kiss.

Sweet nicotine. He even liked the brand. “Thanks.”

Schu was pretty but didn’t remind him of Asuka, and Yoji wanted to be obliterated for a while. “I feel terrible,” Yoji said as he leaned into him. “Make me feel better.” 

“Sex?”

“Hell yeah. It’s one way of cheering me up.” Or at least getting through another block of time.

“It’s my favorite way. I’ll even let you pick the hotel.” 

  


* * *

Yoji half-awoke alone in bed at the sound of a shower running. It took a few minutes to put where he was and what had happened together, though the warm, tingly afterglow and soreness of some parts of his body helped. Schu. They’d ripped each other’s clothes off and thoroughly screwed one another for... hours? Yoji didn’t know what time they’d left the restaurant or the current time and couldn’t bring himself to care. He wanted to hang on to this good, mellow, sexy, and somewhat disconnected feeling as long as he could. 

Though nothing felt as good as fucking Schu or Schu fucking him....

Utterly shameless, Schu had really gotten him going and helped him screw himself stupid, something he’d really needed. Hot as hell....

Schu came out of the bathroom with his shirt buttoned only halfway up, looking _damned_ good, though after the session they’d already done Yoji could only get halfway hard. “I couldn’t find the buttons after _someone_ sent them flying. Oh well, this shirt suffered so sexiness could live.”

Yoji noticed some faint bruising around the base of Schu’s neck and remembered Schu forcibly moving Yoji’s hands away from it at least twice, the second time flipping them over afterward to put himself on top. Had _he_ bruised him like that? He hadn’t been paying enough attention before the hotel to know.

“Work called,” Schu said then placed a kiss on Yoji’s forehead. “I’ll pay on my way out, but if you fall asleep again and spend more time here, it’s _your_ yen.”

“Sweet talker.”

“You love it. See you around, baby.” 

  


* * *

Yoji really wished he hadn’t scrubbed off that phone number after their first time together. For all he knew, it hadn’t actually worked or been Schu’s number and it might be disconnected now, but he’d _know_ and wouldn’t be spending time kicking himself now. He needed to find Schu, but Schu wasn’t out and about on the town as usual. 

Schwarz had taken Aya’s sister. (And abandoned their youngest member’s body in the rubble of Masafumi’s mansion, what the fuck?) If Yoji could get to Schu while they were off the clock, he might be able to get a location for her out of him, especially after they fucked. 

Schu no doubt stayed off the streets and out of the clubs for just that reason. 

Then Eszett’s leaders came to town, and Schwarz stopped Weiß from taking those leaders down. Schu _made_ Sakura shoot Aya and would have gotten her to do it again but more lethally if Yoji hadn’t whipped the gun out of her hand. Schwarz took Sakura with them as they left, so now they had Aya-chan _and_ Sakura and needed to be found and taken down immediately. What the hell would Schwarz do with--and to--those girls?

Of course, after that Yoji didn’t see Schu out _anywhere_.

Recent events forced Yoji to finally accept some things he’d kept at bay. One, Schwarz belonged to Eszett, which was probably the organization Schu had told Yoji made him stay with Takatori and was the organization doing insane things to kill people and bring chaos to Tokyo. Like setting people on fire, creating music that made people kill themselves, using a hypnotist lawyer to get criminals back out on the streets to injure and murder people.... So even when Weiß hadn’t directly faced any members of Schwarz, Schwarz was still their opponent. Yoji had still been sleeping with the enemy. Two, Schwarz had _powers_ : their kid could tear a mansion to bits with his mind, Crawford often knew where attacks were coming from before his opponents could even start them, and Schuldig did things to people’s minds. (Had Schu _made_ Yoji have sex with him that way?) Yoji didn’t know if Farfarello could do anything aside from being relentless and refusing to feel pain, but those were enough on their own.

Had Schu been using Yoji for some reason or just having fun at his expense? Whichever, Yoji felt angry and dirty over it and wanted to make him pay. 

But Yoji couldn’t help missing Schu anyway and hated himself for it. 

When Weiß went to the location Birman had seen Schwarz at, the team had already cleared out but for some reason had left Aya’s sister behind. More likely, Sakura had found a way to accomplish that and might be suffering for it.

(Seeing Aya with his sister was almost like seeing him naked. Yoji kept alternating between it being too intimate for him to watch and being unable to look away. Suddenly he could see traces of the person Aya might have been before tragedy had hit him and his family.)

But they all figured that Schwarz would want her back even before Schwarz’s kid--who’d survived after all--showed up offering to trade Sakura for Aya-chan. Aya would have to arrive at a set location alone to make the trade. It had “trap” written all over it, and they had no intention of giving Aya’s sister back, but Aya had to go to try to rescue Sakura. The rest of Weiß would stay at the shop to protect Aya-chan when Schwarz showed up looking for her. 

Schwarz sent Schuldig, who busted through the window as if their being in a room on the second floor meant absolutely nothing, usual for him. Even tag-teaming him with Ken, Yoji kept getting knocked around by him. Yoji and Ken’s glee at Schuldig seeing that Aya-chan wasn’t in the bed in the room with them, suckered, didn’t last long though, because Schwarz on figured on something like this and sent more than one member to the shop. Schuldig prevented their efforts to get out and go help Omi and Birman defend Aya-chan by kicking their asses. 

As he crouched atop Yoji, straddling his waist, Schu murmured, “This is so _nostalgic_ , isn’t it?”

Fortunately, Ken struck Schuldig’s arm with his claws before Yoji had to come up with a witty retort. Not that it did that much good, since Schuldig just knocked Ken down and kept Yoji pinned to the floor with his foot putting pressure on the back of Yoji’s _head_. 

“You damn bastard...” Yoji rasped out.

“That’s enough, tough guy,” Schuldig answered lightly. “If you die now, you’ll miss the show.”

Yoji _hated_ him. “Show?”

“Look forward to it,” Schuldig replied before taking his foot off Yoji’s head and leaping out the window. 

When Yoji and Ken made it down to the room Omi and Birman had been hiding Aya-chan in, they found the room wrecked, Omi and Birman beaten unconscious, and Aya’s sister gone. 

Looking frantic and somewhat beaten upon, Aya returned--without Sakura--and got to take in that scene, so Yoji and Ken didn’t have to explain what had happened. Yoji would take his tiny victories any way he could. 

Weiß would find Eszett’s leaders, Schwarz, and the girls, stop Eszett’s evil crazy plans, defeat Schwarz, and rescue the girls. They had to. Yoji swore to himself that he would kill Schuldig even if it killed _him_.

  


* * *

Yoji seemed to be doing better against his Schwarz opponent than the rest of his team. For once he had the upper hand on Schuldig, and it felt so deeply satisfying to have his wire wrapped tightly around Schuldig’s neck, even with Schu fighting his strangulation all the way. Then again, Schuldig didn’t deserve a quick, clean death, so let him struggle through it and see it coming.

But suddenly the floor broke up beneath their feet, like in an earthquake, before they all started falling and something hit Yoji’s head. Oblivion followed. 

  


* * *

Shivering, soaked through, aching all over, Yoji rolled over and retched up seawater and probably bile onto the cold wet sand beneath him. He felt _raw_. As he cracked open his eyes he caught a glimpse of long orange hair and tried to move--

It felt like an _anvil_ hit him in the stomach. Coughing, retching, Yoji curled up around himself and tried to breathe. 

“I just brought you back into this world, and I can take you out of it,” Schuldig said. He looked soaked through and somewhat bedraggled but still unfairly sexy. Wet, his lavender shirt looked nearly transparent, and his nipples were hard. “Now you can be a good boy and let me talk and give you some closure, or you can fight me and I will personally drown you here and now. Choose.”

Since he couldn’t put up much of a fight anyway at the moment, Yoji replied, his voice a croak, “I’ll let you talk.” Besides, he needed answers.

“Thank you so much. I didn’t have to save you just now.”

“Then why did you?”

“Consider it a thank you for your team helping us kill the elders. Since you were my personal fucktoy for a while, I even gave you a personal rescue despite you giving me _these_.” Schuldig rested a hand on the wire marks around his neck.

So Schwarz had _wanted_ their leaders dead and the ritual ruined? Schu _had_ expressed some hatred toward the organization he said “owned” him.... “Did you save all of us?”

“Yoji, this is ‘me’ time. I have things to say and a limited amount of time to do it in. I’ll tell you what I want to tell you and no more. The night I met you, I already knew we’d become opponents; I can’t see the future but my team leader can. He knew we’d have to put up with a lot of shit for our Japan assignment and that I’d need some avenue to act out in so I wouldn’t blow up in Takatori’s face at any of the moments when he richly deserved it. You were that release for me. You’re pretty, fun in bed, and interactive entertainment.”

So Schuldig had fucked with his mind and body simply for amusement. _Read_ his mind... how much had Schuldig seen? And changed? Just thinking about it made Yoji’s skin crawl. “You _made_ me want you.”

“Actually, I didn’t have to. You were attracted to me on your own and, libertine that you are, the fantastic sex kept you coming back. Though your recent sexual problem with finding everyone else less satisfying is due to mind readers being amazing lovers from how we know what you want the moment you want it, so we can give it to you. We can even give you things you can’t admit to yourself that you want. Normals can’t compare. Sorry. Reading your mind... I should have won an award for keeping a straight face around you from what you were thinking, for instance that fantasy of keeping me chained to your bed and letting Stockholm syndrome set in. For shame. You’re supposedly one of the good guys.”

“It was an idle fantasy! I can’t always help what pops into my head. It’s not like I’d actually do it!” Yelling hurt his throat, raw from coughing and vomiting salt water, but he couldn’t help himself.

“I have to hear it anyway, so it counts.”

“You already admitted to using _me_ as a bed toy!”

“Yeah, but I’m evil. If it makes you feel any better, I would’ve been a lot more sadistic to you and your team if you weren’t putting out for me.”

“It doesn’t make me feel much better. The elders were dead and the ritual ruined, so what did your team even want Aya-chan for?” Yoji doubted he’d get an answer but needed to give it a shot.

Schuldig shrugged. “I don’t actually know. My team leader doesn’t always bother to explain things to me.”

“And you don’t care?”

“I do not care.” Schuldig crouched down beside him and purred, “You know, I had to give you mouth to mouth resuscitation but it wasn’t much fun while you were unconscious, cold, dead weight.” 

Damn it, Schu’s voice, eyes, and presence still got Yoji’s dick hard and ready to fuck, but he refused to go along with it. “I don’t think you’d have much fun with my mouth since I just spent a lot of time throwing up with it. Besides, with all the convulsive shivering we’re both doing, I think we shouldn’t spend much more time soaking wet on the shore here.”

“Wow, look at you! Nearly dying does wonders for your thinking. I never would’ve guessed.” 

“I _hate_ you.”

“No, you don’t. You only wish you did.” Schuldig grinned. “But you’re right otherwise: we should get a move on. If you can get your act together, you should go help Aya or Ken: their weapons are weighing them down.”

“Wait, what?”

“See ya!” Schuldig waved and... disappeared. Yoji didn’t know if he’d used his speed, telepathy, or both.

For all he knew, Schuldig might still be here but “invisible” to Yoji’s mind and laughing his ass off as Yoji struggled to get to his feet and find the rest of his team. The thought added to the shivering he was already doing. How could you live in a world with people like Schuldig in it without becoming completely paranoid?

Maybe you didn’t.

 

### End


End file.
